New books this month were a little late in arriving. Subjects include titles on: mindfulness, AI, decision making, coaching, leadership, OKRs and digital business models. We've also made more e-books available, including, for the first time, titles from the Harvard Business School Press. A full list of all of our new titles is here.
To request any title just press 'place hold'.
Rebel talent : why it pays to break the rules at work and in life / Francesca Gino.
Francesca Gino has been studying rebellion and conformity for more than fifteen years. She has discovered that when we mindlessly follow rules and norms rather than constructively rebelling against them, we become less happy and less successful in every area of our lives. While rebels may seem disruptive, they are ultimately good for business: their passion, drive, curiosity and creativity can raise organizations to a new level. [Publisher text]
What's your digital business model? : six questions to help you build the next-generation enterprise / by Peter D. Weill and Stephanie L. Woerner.
In this concise, practical book, MIT digital research leaders Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner provide a powerful yet straightforward framework that has been field-tested globally with dozens of senior management teams. Based on years of study at the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), the authors find that digitization is moving companies' business models on two dimensions: from value chains to digital ecosystems, and from a fuzzy understanding of the needs of end customers to a sharper one. [Publisher text]
The efficiency paradox : what big data can't do / Edward Tenner.
The Efficiency Paradox questions our ingrained assumptions about efficiency, persuasively showing how relying on the algorithms of digital platforms can in fact lead to wasted efforts, missed opportunities, and above all an inability to break out of established patterns. Edward Tenner offers a smarter way of thinking about efficiency. [Publisher text]
Leadership in practice : theory and cases in leadership character / edited by Gerard Seijts and Karen MacMillan.
The authors have compiled a collection of cutting-edge cases and readings that cover a wide range of successful businesses—from the NFL to Apple—and include notable controversies, such as those surrounding Enron and Volkswagen. Alongside exclusive interviews and insights into the value of leadership character at individual, team, organizational and societal levels, the book includes learning objectives and discussion questions to facilitate lively debate and interaction in the classroom. [Adapted from publisher text]
Bullshit jobs : a theory / David Graeber.
Back in 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied that by the century's end, technology would see us all working fifteen-hour weeks. But instead, something curious happened. Today, average working hours have not decreased, but increased. And now, across the developed world, three-quarters of all jobs are in services or admin, jobs that don't seem to add anything to society. In Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber explores how we value work, and how, rather than being productive, work has become an end in itself; the way such work maintains the current broken system of finance capital; and, finally, how we can get out of it. [Adapted from publisher text]
Measure what matters : how Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation rock the world with OKRs / John Doerr.
In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. [Publisher text]
Prediction machines : the simple economics of artificial intelligence / by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb.
When AI is framed as cheap prediction, its extraordinary potential becomes clear: Prediction is at the heart of making decisions under uncertainty. Our businesses and personal lives are riddled with such decisions.; Prediction tools increase productivity--operating machines, handling documents, communicating with customers.; Uncertainty constrains strategy. Better prediction creates opportunities for new business structures and strategies to compete. [Publisher text]
The mind of the leader : how to lead yourself, your people, and your organization for extraordinary results / by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter.
To solve the leadership crisis, organizations need to put people at the center of their strategy. They need to develop managers and executives who lead with three core mental qualities: mindfulness, selflessness, and compassion. Using real-world inspirational examples from Marriott, Accenture, McKinsey & Company, LinkedIn, and many more, "The Mind of the Leader" shows how this new kind of leadership turns conventional leadership thinking upside down. [Publisher text]
Strategic decision making : a discovery-led approach to critical choices in turbulent times / Simon Haslam and Ben Shenoy.
Packed with real world examples and backed up by academic research, Strategic Decision Making will allow today's leaders and the leaders of tomorrow to make successful and defensible business choices. It shows how to: avoid decision-making bias; overcome organizational inertia; manage the difficulties of rigid organizational structures and avoid being side tracked by outdated or irrelevant experience. [Publisher text]
Presence-based leadership : complexity practices for clarity, resilience, and results that matter / Doug Silsbee; foreword by Kevin Cashman.
Presence-Based Leadership is the third and final volume in Doug Silsbee’s ground-breaking and influential trilogy on coaching and leadership. Through cultivating an embodied leadership presence, readers will become more dynamic shapers of the context in which they lead, and a creative force for what matters in a fractured and dynamic world. [Adapted from publisher text]
